Colorado Avalanche coach Joe Sacco and the NHL's 29 other bench bosses opened the beginning of an abbreviated training camp Sunday, a day after the new collective bargaining agreement was finalized and a green light was put on a shortened 48-game regular season that begins this weekend.

The Avs, who open at Minnesota on Saturday, practiced for nearly two hours in front of an overflow crowd at their Family Sports Center complex. They primarily ran high-intensity drills with assigned linemates and defensive pairings, with conditioning at the end. Sacco said his team will begin scrimmaging Monday, when the second day of the 26-player camp begins at 10:30 a.m.

The Denver Post's Adrian Dater and Mike Chambers post analysis, notes, video, chats and more on this blog dedicated to the Colorado Avalanche.

"I thought it was a great first day. I was just talking to the other coaches, talking about the pace, the intensity, the things that we were looking for. Overall I thought we saw a lot of that," said Sacco, who is beginning his fourth season with the Avs.

"It looked like we had guys that were excited to be back on the ice again. You could see that passion. Everybody is a little rusty, including the coaches. But that's normal. All we were looking for was intensity, pace and tempo in our practice and we had that today."

As expected, new right-shooting forward P.A. Parenteau skated on the Matt Duchene-centered line, with reigning NHL rookie of the year Gabriel Landeskog at left wing. Parenteau, who scored 38 goals for the New York Islanders over the last two seasons, is one of three free-agent signings last summer, along with third-line center John Mitchell (from the New York Rangers) and defenseman Greg Zanon (Boston Bruins).

Veteran center Paul Stastny was between right-wing David Jones and Jamie McGinn, a threesome that clicked well late last season after McGinn was acquired from the San Jose Sharks. The fourth line featured center Mark Olver between tough-guys Cody McLeod (left) and Patrick Bordeleau (right).

Veteran Chuck Kobasew was ill and did not skate. leaving David van der Gulik and 21-year-old Mike Sgarbossa as a twosome. Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere are the only goalies in camp.

Duchene and other players used words like grateful, appreciate and humbled by the surprising big crowd. Every seat in the stands was occupied and at some points there were three-rows deep of standing fans against the glass.

Duchene credited the area's passionate sports fans, and wondered if the big crowd was a product of them "moving on" from the Broncos' difficult playoff loss Saturday. Sacco thinks it was a good sign that the NHL was missed.

"I think folks are excited about hockey. It's (about) time that it's back," he said. " That was a great turnout. And you know, even though it's practice, it certainly motivates the players to some degree, when they see people out there. It livens things up a little bit."

Rockies are on pace to lose 93 games this seasonThe Rockies lost three of four in St. Louis and are on pace to lose 93 games as they come home for a three-game series with Seattle before going back on the road again to face Washington.